Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Been a while since I've updated here, but this seemed like a good thing to share here. I talk a great deal about what the latest news with me, Shaintar, the OmniCosm, Modern Gods, and other Evil Beagle stuff, as well as getting into a bit of my history.

Oh, and the exclusive preview of the cover for Shaintar: Legends Arise.

You can explore Chris Helton's awesome Dorkland! for more great observations and gaming goodness!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Kind of late with this tonight, with everything else I have going on. I have a lot to share, so I will be doing a new VLOG in the near future (now that I have a decent camera thanks to housemate Joey).

Bulletproof Blues is a "rules light" superhero roleplaying game set in the world-famous universe of Kalos Comics, creators of Paragon, Rook, Antiope, Doctor Arcane, and the rest of the Justifiers, as well as sinister organizations like Aegis and GORGON, and mysterious entities like The Bride. From the ancient ruins of Lemuria to the far reaches of the Hausdorff Dimension, the Kalos Universe is now yours to explore.

The Kalos Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles published by Kalos Comics take place, including those featuring Kalos' most familiar characters, such as Paragon, Swan, and the members of Vanguard.

The Kalos Universe is further depicted as existing within a "multiverse" consisting of a large number of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Kalos Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Kalos universes". In this context, "Kalos Universe" is taken to refer to the mainstream Kalos continuity, which is known as Earth Zero or Earth-0.

The universe of Earth-0 has no particular significance in comparison to that of Earth-1 or any other universe -- the name is simply a convenience. A more technically accurate nomenclature would define the "Kalos Universe" in terms of its "location" in the multiverse within 196,883 dimensional space. Since this would require the listing of 196,883 coordinates, "Earth-0", "Earth-162", "Earth-4661", etc., is a convenient shorthand.

The Complete Warrior provides you with an in-depth look at combat and provides detailed information on how to prepare a character for confrontation.

This title was not only compiled from various D&D sources, but contains new things as well, including new battle-oriented character classes, prestige classes, combat maneuvers, feats, spells, magic items, and equipment. The prestige classes included have been revised and updated based on player feedback, and there are rules for unusual combat situations. The Complete Warrior will assist all class types, including those classes not typically associated with melee combat. There are also tips on running a martially focused campaign and advice on how to make your own prestige classes and feats.

To use this accessory, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player’s Handbook, Dungeon Master's Guide, and Monster Manual. A player needs only the Player's Handbook.

Reworking Class Options. The three new classes in this offering are the hexblade, the samurai, and the swashbuckler. At least two of these would previously have been prestige classes built for the fighter, and it's interesting that they've been broken out into full classes to allow players to embrace the concepts from day one. As base classes, all three provide solid and balanced character concepts. If you plan to be swinging on chandeliers and tossing cloaks over your foes' heads from early in your adventuring career, the swashbuckler is a good choice for you. The hexblade is even more intriguing, a cross between a fighter and a curse-tossing sorcerer who would make a superb anti-hero.

Even the previously published prestige classes revisited in this book have generally been reworked significantly for flavor and balance. Not all are 10-level classes, either, allowing players to expand their character options without major commitment. As always, beware the frenzied berserker (a common quote from a typical game: "Why won't he DIE?!?"), but the mixture of prestige classes gives players options that fill flavorful, specific niches. Several of these hearken back to earlier editions, with the cavalier modeling the original class in AD&D's Unearthed Arcana and the Bladesinger echoing 2nd ed. AD&D's elven “kit” for fighter/mages.

The best prestige classes are those that provide flavor without the expense of too little (or too much) combat power. The mindspy, for instance, is a 5-level prestige class often seen in doppelgangers and mind flayers. It allows the warrior to quickly scan opponents’ minds and anticipate their every move. Even in a game without psionics, this is a class that works just as well out of combat as it does within a melee.

Noir is about mood, and mood is made by music. Give your Deadlands Noir game a feeling you can’t get any other way—set the tone with the Deadlands Noir Original Soundtrack.

This download contains nine original tracks by Harry Mack. That’s a full hour of music made specifically for your Deadlands Noir game that you just won’t find anywhere else.

Deadlands Noir is a pen-and-paper roleplaying game set in the world of Pinnacle Entertainment’s award-winning Deadlands universe. It includes new Edges, Hindrances, and powers, as well as new rules for handling detective work, the state of the Union and the CSA in the Depression-era, a complete Plot Point campaign, and of course, more monsters and ghouls than you can shake a smoking .45 automatic at.

Deadlands Noir is not a complete game. It requires the Savage Worlds core rules to play. The PDF is fully bookmarked with a hyperlinked table of contents and index. The PDF is also layered to serve as its own printer-friendly version. Full color, full-size (8.5″ x 11″ pages), 144 pages.

Almost a decade ago, Japanese artist and game designer Junichi Inoue sat down to create what was, in his own words, a uniquely and unmistakably "Hyper Asian" Japanese world: a world of magic and technology, of samurai and Taoist sorcery, of powerful mecha and cultured geisha. The world was named Tenra, and the game was named Tenra Bansho, or "Everything in Heaven and Earth."

With a rulebook dripping cover-to-cover with high-quality anime-style art, a setting rich in culture both real and fantastical, and a revised and simplified rules system that focused with precision on roleplaying and character drama, this game took the Japanese tabletop RPG market by storm and spearheaded both a renaissance and revolution in the Japanese gaming industry.

Years later, this unique and revolutionary game has finally been painstakingly translated into English for play in the West!

TENRA BANSHO ZERO

Tenra Bansho Zero is a unique tabletop roleplaying experience, and it features the following:

PDF Optimization

This product contains two versions of the game:

The original high-quality art-filled, full-color setting and rules books, together in electronic tablet-optimized US graphic novel size (700 total pages)
A text-only indexed version of all of the content of the setting and rules books at US Letter/A4 size for easy reference and printing (510 total pages; with large font and spacing for readability; effectively 150 pages of text for normal book proportions)

Breathtaking Art

Over 300 unique pieces of art appear throughout; there are 33 full-color manga story pages that introduce players to the world and setting features, and ten rules explanations, also in manga form, assist with fast rules retention. The art is done by the formidable hand of Junichi Inoue, the fine brush-work of Hiroyuki Ishida, the comical impact of Hayami Rasenjin, and more!

With layout for the English edition by industry expert Luke Crane (Mouse Guard RPG, Burning Wheel RPG), you've never seen a game like this.

Incredible Content

Two books: A full-color Setting book and a black-and-white Rules and Play book. The books together boast a page count of almost 700 total pages! The huge amount of art, combined with the detailed deep-dive explanations and play advice, will give you your money's worth in usable content.

Incomparable Richness

A rich Japanese setting involving a planet in a constant state of war, where magic fuels technology and the culture is an analogue of the "Warring States" (Sengoku) era of Japan. Mecha, sorcery, samurai, geisha, monks, cyborgs, annelid-users, and more make this game a truly unique - and deeply Japanese - experience.

Quick to Learn

A simple-to-understand rules system utilizing regular six-sided dice, cleverly explained in both detailed text examples and amusing full-page manga art. On top of a woven system of skills, attributes, action, and combat is overlaid a deeper system of kabuki theater-style play: Focusing very specifically on play through Acts, Scenes, and Intermissions, the players of this game are both the actors and audience: As actors, they focus on roleplay in a scene with other actors; and as audience (much like the audience of a kabuki play), they focus on the drama that unfolds, rewarding the players for dramatic actions and cool ad-libbed lines.

Speed

An entire campaign, a story from start to finish, can be told over the space of one to two sessions! You can then choose to play the same characters in another tale, or perhaps retire them to look at another facet of life on Tenra.

All-in-One

The original Japanese game had a core rulebook, a supplement, and later several mail-order-only mini-supplements. The data/rules content and much of the art has been ported and folded into the English book set (originally $145 USD for all of that material if you were to buy it when it came out), including errata and designer suggestions.

Private Military Companies are becoming more and more common, exchanging higher costs for better trained and better equipped military specialists. In a world where people in spandex can juggle armored personnel carriers, they need to be even better trained and better equipped! Enter SixGun, a team of cybernetic super-soldiers who will work for anyone if the price is right. Author Rick Jones brings you a team of ruthlessly efficient, battle-hardened foes for your Mutants and Masterminds Third Edition campaign, ready to deploy at a moment’s notice.

No battle theater is off-limits for these six cyborgs. Marauder, Camo, 3Chelon, Headcase, Deadeye, and “Spot” have the technology and the skill to strike anywhere the money leads them. With art by Alex Williamson, Yad-Ming Mui, Denise Jones, and Jesse Justice, this full-color book brings illustrations for the team, their gear, and their support personnel. We also include full-color standees for you to use at the gaming table.

If you’re not familiar with Private Military Companies, fear not, we’ve included an essay on their history and how they operate… both in the real world, and in the world of your own Superhero campaigns. We also include background and history for the insidious Orion Private Security, whose mysterious connection to SixGun is still classified “Eyes-Only” for the Game Master.

So make one final gear check, and prepare for a fierce battle. SixGun is ready, are you?

“Sanguine et Aurum! Blood and Gold!”

~~~

I think this is one of the better collections I've presented so far. Lots of stuff very worthy of your interest.

Friday, February 22, 2013

An ice shelf collapses in far-off Antarctica, revealing a geologic vent of staggering proportions. Satellite photos show a mysterious expedition camping on the edge of the newly-revealed ravine. The players are dispatched to expose the unknown agents and uncover their mission. Every truth discovered, each step taken, leads them deeper into the Abyss of Insanity.

AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE
A wave of invaders from the Negative Zone spreads from galaxy to galaxy, bringing chaos and ruin to everything in its path. Starfaring empires and intergalactic peacekeeping forces are torn asunder. When Annihilus and his conquering hordes threaten even mighty Galactus, can your cosmic heroes hope to stop the Annihilation Wave?

This Essentials Edition Event Book includes:Annihilation: Based on the sweeping cosmic saga of the blockbuster Annihilation storyline! Cosmic-level heroes and villains rising up against the invasion. Includes rules to scale up the game to cosmic level as well as key game Milestones and interstellar locations you expect from such a star-shattering event.

Hero Datafiles: Game play sheets for many of your favorite cosmic Marvel Super Heroes, from fan-favorites like Nova and Quasar to the awe-inspiring Heralds of Galactus!

For two to eight players, ages 13 and up. Requires game dice.

You will need a copy of the Operations Manual to use this product. The Operations Manual can be found in the MARVEL HEROIC ROLEPLAYING Basic Game or in Premium Edition Event Books.

At last, the seminal RPG created by Robin D Laws and John Snead is available for download.

Praise for the Dying Earth:
"Pick of GenCon: Dying Earth. Of all the new RPGs at GenCon, the one I want to run most is Dying Earth.It's extremely stylish, which, of course, a game based on the Dying Earth ought to be. The detail that won me over is that characters need to do different things to "recharge" depending on which skills they've been using." - Jonathan Tweet, D&D 3rd edition author

"In a flood of fantasy fiction and games, there are fewer and fewer that are truly exciting, exotic, and strange. The Dying Earth is all of those, and exciting, too; reading over the rules makes you WANT to plunge into life and adventure in the setting---even if you've never read any of Jack Vance's delightful fiction! If you have, of course, the game skillfully expands, rounds out, and suggests new trails to adventure...in a setting that is at once whimsical, sinister, gloriously cynical and colorful, eccentric, and oh, so polite. A superb game and setting that could easily provide delightful play in a campaign lasting decades!" - Ed Greenwood, creator of the Forgotten Realms

"Hell, just buy it for the read -it's that good!" - Review of the game rpg.net

"[DERPG] is so well written that it could make even a group of strangers to the books play a perfect game of Dying Earth." - Review of the game rpg.net

The Dying Earth RPG

A future, unimaginably distant…
The sun, now in its dotage is a swollen maroon orb. It stutters and blinks. At any moment it may finally go out.

The sun, now in its dotage is a swollen maroon orb. It stutters and blinks. At any moment it may finally go out.

Earth, immensely old… Dig anywhere and find a buried city or the shore of a vanished sea. Deodand-haunted woods stretch from decadent Kaiin to the Land of the Falling Wall. Erbs and grue hunt in the wilds. Isolated villages embrace surprising customs. Larger towns favor debauchery and mincing murder.

Magic, rich and colourful… Enchantment shapes the world. Any dabbler may know a few simple cantraps. Magicians in lavish manses struggle to master Earth's last great spells, while all-powerful cabals intrigue against rivals or plot revenge for ancient feuds.

Enter this vivid world in this roleplaying game authorized by master fantasist Jack Vance. Here the importance of a flashing sword is matched by nimble wits, persuasive words,and a fine sense of fashion. Create an adventurer for any of three different kinds of stories: a typical mortal such as Cugel the Clever,surviving by wits and cunning an ambitious magician searching for lost lore,like Turjan of Miir a supreme mage to rank with Rhialto the Marvellous, commanding the omnipotent but quarrelsome sandestins The Dying Earth features easy, fast-playing rules that encourage creativity and interaction. No knowledge of Jack Vance's work is needed for play,but fans of the stories will enjoy the comprehensive summary of the world's places, creatures,and known spells.

"Die High," a scenario for Call of Cthulhu, Trail of Cthulhu, or Cthulhu Dark, by Greg Stolze.

"The Found Phone," a Tale of Terror by Greg Stolze.

"St. Michael's Gate," a Tale of Terror by Adam Gauntlett.

"Starting Your Call of Cthulhu Campaign," a feature by Daniel Harms.

"Bargain Hunting," a Tale of Terror by Adam Gauntlett.

"Atlas of Arkham 1911," a Mysterious Manuscript by Bobby Derie.

"Remember, Remember," a Trail of Cthulhu scenario by Adam Gauntlett.

"Smedley House," a Tale of Terror by Ben Riggs.

"Alphonse's Axioms for Agents," a Directive from A-Cell by Adam Scott Glancy.

"The Thing In the Box," a Message in a Bottle by Ross Payton.

and much, much more!~~~

I featured Gygax Magazine's 1st issue today, but as of tonight it's no longer available on DriveThruRPG. Not sure what's going on there, but oh well. If you want to order the physical version, click here.

Enter a Universe of unbelievable power! This is Shonen Final Burst, the fighting anime RPG. Inside you'll find everything you need to make your own shonen warriors and go crazy in over the top battles.

Shonen Final Burst uses unique playing card-based mechanics that emphasize the awesome speed and excitement you'd expect from a real shonen fight, complete with fluid combos, amazing elemental techniques, and unexpected reversals. If it's in the shonen genre, it's in here: ridiculous super moves, ultimate transformations, the power of friendship, and more!

Customize your fighter with over 30 techniques and tons of other options, and customize your play style with our deck-building experience system. All your favorite fighters and shows can be recreated in Shonen Final Burst, or strike out on a new path and make a totally new Universe to play in!

Game Masters need quality maps for their miniatures. DramaScape™ is committed to bringing Game Masters the maps they need.

The Ancient Temple Interior is an expansion to our Ancient Temple product.

A secret door leads to the interior of the ancient temple from outside. From the secret door, descending the eastern staircase leads to a surprisingly well-lit area underground. Light from torches in sconces illuminates the floor below. Debris and skeletons lying on the ground serve as warnings to cease your journey now. Ancient statues look into the room from the corners, their eyes warning you to go now, for they will bear witness to your trespass and threaten to do something about it.

The ancient temple leads to many different adventures. Perhaps the Player Characters are captured investigating outside the temple and are brought in as a sacrifice to the gods. They have to escape their bonds during the ritual and fight their way out of temple to freedom.

The Player Characters could also find the secret door leading below and have to fight off temple cultists and traps. They could also have to thwart an attempted sacrifice of other people captured outside and help them escape by defeating the high priest. After fighting off the high priest, his cultists, and his traps, they could find a great treasure and procure it. But what if the treasure is trapped? Or what if the angry god of the temple curses the treasure as punishment for killing his high priest?

That's what old hands call the Great Dismal Swamp. For centuries, this tangled maze of sluggish watercourses, stagnant ponds, and festering marshes has defended Blackmoor's southwestern frontier. Large armies and smaller parties have disappeared altogether inside its vast, dripping, claustrophobic corridors.

Among those who have dropped from sigh in this arboral hell is young Rissa Aleford, one of Blackmoor's most important leaders. Carried off to the sinister City of the Fron, she is now being held by the eccentric Monks of the Swamp. By making the baroness captive, the deranged monks have serioulsy weakened Blackmoor at a time when enemies already threaten it from all sides.

Yet, even as the Froggies gloat, the king of Blackmoor dispatches a small band of bold adventures to the rescue. Deep into the Great Dismal Swamp they must go ? far from sunlight and sanity? there to seek and save the Swamp. There to find? the Temple of the Frog.

Product History

DA2: Temple of the Frog (1987), by Dave Arneson and David J. Ritchie, is the second adventure in TSR's short-lived Blackmoor line. It was published in January 1987.

About Blackmoor. The story of DA2: Temple of the Frog carries directly on from DA1: Adventures in Blackmoor (1986). Like its predecessor, it was part of the second wave of Blackmoor products, and it was set in the historical past of TSR's own Known World.

The classic game of outwitting and outguessing your opponent has evolved!

In the Super RPS strategic card game, you represent one of these three elemental forces in a duel of wits, using all of your cunning to manipulate them into exposing themselves to your ruthless attack.

Slice, crush, and smother your enemies in a game of shifting fortunes and short-lived alliances.

***

The Free Rulebook option above gets you a free PDF of the rules, a preview of some of the cards, and a printable box which you can cut out and tape together.

Important Note - The Entire Supernatural and Smallville lines will no longer be available after February 28th!

Sorry to be the one to break this to you, but the truth hurts and there’s no use sugarcoating it. Ghosts are real. Demons too, along with those bumps in the night and maybe even the monster under your bed. The world’s a scary place. If you’re lucky the nasties that creep around in the dark won’t get hold of you.

‘Cept maybe you aren’t lucky. Maybe you’ve already lost something – or somebody – to the darkness. All the booze and therapy in the world can’t put your life back the way it was. And evil has a way of finding you again once it’s had a taste of blood.

So you decide to fight back. It’s not gonna be easy — as this kind of on-the-job training can get you dead. But you can stop being the hunted and become the hunter. There’s no fame or glory in it, and there sure as hell isn’t any money. But if you get the job done, you’ll save lives and send the bad guys screaming back to hell where they belong. If that sounds good, then you’ve got some work to do.

In the Supernatural Role Playing Game you and your friends play hunters from the world of the hit television series. Play characters from the show or use the Cortex System rules to create your own hunter. You’ll also find gory details on ghosts, demons, and other nasties for the Game Master to throw your way. All you need to start the hunt is this book, some friends, some dice, and some time to kill…
~~~
All right, then - time for you to do some browsing, see what you like, and get your game on!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

I am feeling so much better after the spine shots I had on Monday; much more mobile with much less pain. I've lost a great deal of weight, and the downward trend continues. Physically, I feel I am improving a lot, and I want to keep going.

My career is also taking off by leaps and bounds, and the future looks very, very bright. Let me point you at a rather big deal that just launched yesterday -

My dear friend, Lee Ballew, did the primary design, and I was honored to be listed as helping with the design as well. He also did most of the art, though his wife, Susan Knowles, also added a lot of amazing pieces to it. Any fan of deck-building games will enjoy this tongue-in-cheek game where "Monty Python meets Anime Humor." Evil Beagle Games is proud to have this as a premiere and exclusive title on DriveThruCards, the latest site in the DriveThru family.

In addition to this, here's what else I am up to -

I'm currently finishing up my third Star Wars assignment for Fantasy Flight Games, with a fourth one already in the pipeline.

I have some awesome stuff in development with Pinnacle.

I am still involved with FASA Games, and am looking at doing some design and writing for their 1879 line down the road.

I am in talks with Modiphius for a really great project!

The Shaintar Kickstarter is pretty much worked out and we should be figuring out our launch date for it very soon.

Shaintar: Legends Arise is in full development, and there is a huge announcement about that coming in a few days.

Lee and I are currently working on a deck-building game set in Shaintar; more on that later.

Susan and I have started working up our plans for a Shaintar comic series as well, which I am incredibly excited about. Again, more details about that in the near future.

On top of all that, I have a daughter who is doing well in school as well as her martial arts training and a loving partner in life who makes every single day of my life more magical and meaningful. I am surrounded by family and friends who do everything they can to help me succeed, making me the richest man I know.